On June 23, 2025, GALBOT announced the completion of a new round of financing of 1.1 billion yuan, led by global power battery giant CATL. So far, its cumulative financing amount in two years has exceeded 2.4 billion yuan. The news has attracted widespread attention in the technology circle, especially in the field of robotics. CATL's move not only signifies a strong recognition of the promise of embodied intelligence, but is also seen as a key signal to accelerate the commercialization of intelligent robots.
Ⅰ. CATL's strategic intent: from power batteries to intelligent ecology
As the world's leading provider of power battery systems, CATL has been a leader in the field of new energy vehicles in recent years. However, in the face of the slowdown and intensifying competition in the electric vehicle market, companies urgently need to find new growth engines. Embodied intelligent robots are becoming an important fulcrum for them to build a "second growth curve".
According to the data of the High-tech Robot Research Institute, the sales volume of Chinese humanoid robots is expected to be 2,400 units in 2024 and 7,300 units in 2025, and the market size is expected to exceed 2.4 billion yuan; Looking forward to 2035, sales may increase to 2 million units, and the overall market size is expected to reach 140 billion yuan. This not only shows the potential of humanoid robots, but also provides a clear logic for CATL's extension in the fields of robot batteries, control systems, and intelligent manufacturing.
By investing in Galaxy General Robotics, CATL can achieve synergies in the following areas:
Technology synergy: Cross-integration of key modules such as batteries, servo drives, and power management systems.
Production line collaboration: CATL can introduce Galaxy General Robots in its own smart factories to improve the automation rate and flexible manufacturing level.
Ecological collaboration: Build a new intelligent manufacturing ecosystem covering batteries, intelligent hardware, and AI applications.
In this context, CATL's large-scale investment is more forward-looking and strategic.
Ⅱ. The Galaxy General Robot: hard core technology, commercialization at the forefront
Attracting CATL to bet heavily, the core advantage of Galaxy General Robot lies in its technical strength and landing ability. In June 2024, the company launched its first embodied large-scale model robot, the Galbot G1, which adopts a "double arm + folding + wheeled chassis" structure, focusing on the flexibility and efficiency of upper limb manipulation capabilities.
Key technical parameters of Galbot G1:
Horizontal reach: 0.8 m
Payload capacity: 2 kg
Repeatability: ±2 mm
Training environment: It supports the self-developed GalSim system, is compatible with mainstream physics engines (Mujoco, IsaacGym, etc.), and supports multi-robot, multi-rigid body, flexible body and complex environment simulation.
Figure: GALBOT received 1.1 billion yuan in financing, led by CATL
The emergence of this training platform not only improves R&D efficiency, but also provides richer interactive data support for embodied intelligent models, accelerating the capacity building of the whole chain from "perception-decision-execution".
On the path of commercialization, GALBOT did not stop at laboratory results. In March 2025, the company launched the world's first humanoid robot retail solution. By deploying Galbot in unmanned retail stores, the whole process of automatic inventory, replenishment, pick-up and delivery, packaging and other processes is closed-loop. According to the official, the single-store deployment cycle is only 1 day, and nearly 10 pilot stores have been landed in Beijing, and it is planned to expand to more than 100 within the year.
This achievement sets a successful example for the commercial application of embodied intelligence in the field of humanoid service robots, and also provides a feasible path for subsequent large-scale replication.
In addition, in June 2025, GALBOT and Boyuan Capital, a subsidiary of Bosch Group, jointly established a joint venture and signed a tripartite strategic cooperation memorandum with Bosch China, focusing on the implementation of industrial manufacturing scenarios. This cooperation not only enhances the capabilities GALBOT in the industrial automation scenario, but also opens a new channel for its globalization strategy.
Ⅲ. Multiple challenges to the commercialization of embodied intelligence
Despite the strong momentum, if GALBOT is to truly lead the wave of commercialization of embodied intelligence, it still needs to cross three barriers: technical bottlenecks, market competition and ethical norms.
1. Technical challenges remain to be overcome
Embodied intelligent robots are essentially the deep integration of AI and robotics, but they still face the following core problems:
Data acquisition and training efficiency: High-quality, multimodal, and environmentally rich training data is still a scarce resource.
Insufficient reliability of perception and decision-making systems: there are still blind spots in dealing with unstructured environments;
Scenario adaptability is not strong: The generalization ability of robots in different fields such as retail, manufacturing, and medical care still needs to be improved.
2. Market competition has become fierce
Global tech giants have entered the game of embodied intelligent robots:
Internationally, Boston Dynamics, Figure AI, NVIDIA, OpenAI, etc. are actively promoting humanoid robot projects.
Domestically, cutting-edge enterprises such as Unitree Technology, Fourier Intelligence, and Yuanzheng Technology have risen rapidly.
While maintaining its technological advantages, GALBOT must build cost control capabilities and product delivery systems in order to break through in the competition.
3. Ethical and regulatory issues
Humanoid robots will be deeply involved in the operating system of human society, and their wide deployment will bring new challenges to employment structure, privacy and security, and ethical norms.
How to avoid the employment shock caused by excessive substitution?
How to define the responsibilities of the robot during the performance of tasks?
How can values be embedded in algorithmic decision-making?
If these problems are not properly handled, they will become an obstacle to commercialization.
Ⅳ. The outlook: policy support and diversified demand resonance
Despite the challenges, the development prospects of embodied intelligent robots are still broad. Behind this is the joint promotion of three forces:
1. Policy support continues to increase
The "14th Five-Year Plan", the "New Generation of Artificial Intelligence Development Plan" and other national policies clearly put forward the development of intelligent manufacturing, artificial intelligence and robotics integration direction. Local governments have also introduced special funds and industrial park support policies to create a good environment for industrial development.
2. Technological convergence brings breakthrough opportunities
The rapid progress of AI large models, edge computing, high-performance electric drive systems, and sensor technologies provides the foundation for technological leaps in embodied intelligence. In the future, through the continuous improvement of the AI native robot architecture, it will promote the leap of the trinity of robot perception, reasoning, and motion control.
3. The demand for application scenarios continues to be released
From retail, logistics, and manufacturing to healthcare, education, and home services, embodied intelligent robots have the advantages of strong substitution, high deployment efficiency, and low operating costs. For example:
Medical: auxiliary nursing, rehabilitation escort;
Education: intelligent companionship, personalized teaching;
Logistics: warehousing and handling, terminal distribution;
Manufacturing: flexible production line, quality inspection and sorting.
As commercial verification continues to advance, embodied intelligence will blossom in multiple vertical industries.
V. Conclusion
CATL's strategic investment of 1.1 billion yuan has injected strong impetus into the GALBOT, and has also pushed the commercialization of embodied intelligent robots to a new stage. With its technical background and commercialization achievements, GALBOT has become an important player in the field of embodied intelligence. In the future, with the joint promotion of CATL, Bosch and other ecological partners, Galaxy GM is expected to lead the industry into a new growth cycle.
However, commercialization is far from an "inflection point". To truly pry the giant ship of embodied intelligence into the main channel, it still requires the joint efforts of the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain. In this intelligent revolution, GALBOT is only an engine, and it needs systematic power support. We look forward to more enterprises participating in it and jointly igniting the sea of stars in the era of embodied intelligence.
